Appellant's Brief
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
No. 20170957 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF UTAH __________________ State of Utah, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Tisha Morley, Defendant and Appellant. __________________ BRIEF OF THE APPELLANT __________________ On appeal from the Second Judicial District Court, Weber County, Honorable Scott Hadley, District Court No. 141900806 __________________ Ms. Morley is currently incarcerated Sean Reyes Emily Adams (14937) UTAH ATTORNEY GENERAL ADAMS LEGAL LLC 160 East 300 South P.O. Box 1564 6th Floor Bountiful, UT 84011 P.O. Box 140854 [email protected] Salt Lake City, UT 84114 (801) 309-9625 Attorney for Plaintiff/ Cherise Bacalski (15084) Appellee State of Utah BACALSKI LEGAL PLLC 51 W. Center Street, #315 Orem, UT 84057 [email protected] (858) 215-1388 Attorneys for Defendant/Appellant Tisha Morley ORAL ARGUMENT REQUESTED List of Parties All parties to this appeal, with their appellate counsel, are as follows: State of Utah Represented by Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes Tisha Morley Represented by Emily Adams and Cherise Bacalski Table of Contents Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 Issues Presented ............................................................................................................... 4 Statement of the Case ...................................................................................................... 5 1. Child Is Injured While at Ms. Morley’s Daycare ................................... 5 2. Ms. Morley Allows the Police to Interview Her and Search Her Home ........................................................................................................... 7 3. The Police Interview Some of the Children at the Daycare ................. 8 4. The Police Investigate the Changing Table and Videotape Brother Lifting a Doll .............................................................................. 10 5. Ms. Morley Is Tried for Child-Abuse Homicide .................................. 11 5.1 The State’s Forensic Evidence Showed Child’s DNA on the Crib but No Fibers or DNA on the Changing Table .......... 12 5.2 The State’s Ophthalmologist, Physician, Medical Examiner, and Radiologist Opine About Child’s Injuries ...... 12 5.3 The State’s Biomechanical Engineer Testified About What Caused Child’s Injuries ..................................................... 17 5.4 Ms. Morley’s Medical Expert Testifies that the Cause of Child’s Death Is Undetermined .................................................. 19 5.5 The State Theorizes About Where Child’s Head Hit on the Changing Table ....................................................................... 21 22 (Exh. 80.) .................................................................................................. 22 5.6 The State Admits Photographs of the Doll on the Changing Table ............................................................................. 22 5.7 The Jury Sees the Children’s Interviews and the Video of Brother Picking Up Child and Is Instructed on Child- Abuse Homicide and Negligent Homicide ................................ 26 Summary of the Argument ........................................................................................... 29 Argument ........................................................................................................................ 32 1. Trial Counsel Was Ineffective by Not Objecting to the Forensic Engineer’s Medical Causation Testimony that Exceeded the Scope of His Expertise ............................................................................ 32 1.1 Trial Counsel Performed Deficiently ......................................... 33 1.2 Trial Counsel Prejudiced Ms. Morley ........................................ 43 2. Trial Counsel Was Ineffective When He Did Not Object to the Photographs of the Doll on the Changing Table or the Video of Brother Lifting the Doll .......................................................................... 51 2.1 Trial Counsel Performed Deficiently by Not Objecting to the Photographs ............................................................................ 51 2.2 Trial Counsel Performed Deficiently by Not Objecting to the Video ........................................................................................ 53 2.3 Ms. Morley Was Prejudiced ........................................................ 55 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 58 Addenda A Biomechanical engineer’s trial testimony B Utah District Court orders limiting biomechanical engineers’ testimonies TABLE OF AUTHORITIES CASES Balderas v. Starks, 2006 UT App 218, 138 P.3d 75 ................................................ 33 Berner v. Carnival Corp., 632 F.Supp.2d 1208 (S.D.Fla. 2009) ........................... 35 Bowers v. Norfolk Southern Corp, 537 F.Supp.2d 1343 (M.D. Ga. 2007) ......................................................................................................................... 36 Brown v. Professional Building Servs., Inc., ___ So.3d ___, 2017 WL 4641265 (Miss. App. Oct. 17, 2017) ............................................................... 38 Burke v. Transam Trucking, 617 F.Supp.2d 327 (M.D.Pa. 2009) ........................ 36 Burke v. TransAm Trucking, Inc., 617 F.Supp.2d 327 (M.D.Pa.2009)................ 36 Campbell v. Scott, Civ. No. 140907592 (Utah Dist. Ct. Apr. 21, 2017) ................. 34 Cooper v. Smith & Nephew, Inc., 259 F.3d 194 (4th Cir. 2001) ............................ 35 Crandall v. American Family Mutual Insurance Co., No. 2:11-CV- 497 (D. Utah May 30, 2014) .................................................................................. 33 Cromer v. Mulkey Enterprises, Inc., 562 S.E.2d 783 (Ga. App. 2002) ................ 38 De Adder v. Intermountain Healthcare, Inc., 2013 UT App 173, 308 P.3d 543 .................................................................................................................... 33 Doherty v. Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle, 921 P.2d 1098 (Wash. App. 1996) ................................................................................................... 38 Eskin v. Carden, 842 A.2d 1222 (Del. 2004) ............................................................ 38 Evans ex rel. Evans v. Langston, 2007 UT App 240, 166 P.3d 621...................... 33 Fitz v. Synthes (USA), 1999 UT 103, 990 P.2d 391 .................................................. 33 Gostyla v. Chambers, 171 A.3d 98 (Conn. App. 2017) ............................................ 37 Hankla v. Jackson, 699 S.E.2d 610 (Ga. App. 2010) ........................................ 35, 40 Hinton v. Alabama, 571 U.S. 263 (2014) .................................................................. 40 Horrocks v. Prothero, Civ. No. 140400447 (Utah Dist. Ct. May 4, 2015) .......................................................................................................................... 34 Kelham v. CSX Transp., Inc., No. 2:12–CV–316, 2015 WL 4426027 (N.D.Ind. July 17, 2015) ......................................................................................... 35 Kent v. Pioneer Valley Hosp., 930 P.2d 904 (Utah App. 1997) ............................. 33 Kranendonk v. Gregory & Swapp, PLLC, Civ. No. 100923050 (Utah Dist. Ct. Jan. 22, 2015) ........................................................................................... 34 Layssard v. United States, No. CIV.A. 06-0352, 2007 WL 4144936 (W.D. La. Nov. 20, 2007) ....................................................................................... 37 Luman v. CSX Transp., Inc., No. 1:03-CV-725, 2005 WL 5981334 (S.D. Ohio Nov. 29, 2005) ...................................................................................... 37 Maines v. Fox, 190 So.3d 1135 (Fla. App. 2016) ...................................................... 38 Maryland v. Kulbicki, 136 S. Ct. 2 (2015). ................................................................ 40 Met v. State, 2016 UT 51, 388 P.3d 447 .............................................................. 32, 51 Morales v. Am. Honda Motor Co., 151 F.3d 500 (6th Cir. 1998). ......................... 34 Morgan v. Girgis, No. 07 CIV. 1960 (WCC), 2008 WL 2115250 (S.D.N.Y. May 16, 2008) ........................................................................................ 36 Nguyen v. Pulkrabek, Civ. No. 04-0908835 (Utah Dist. Ct. Aug. 24, 2007) ......................................................................................................................... 34 Norfolk and Western Railway Co. v. Keeling, 576 S.E.2d 452 (Va. 2003) ......................................................................................................................... 38 Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010) ................................................................. 32 Pratt v. Culpepper, 162 So. 3d 616 (La. App. 2015) ................................................ 37 Roach v. Hughes, 4:13–CV–00136–JHM, 2015 WL 3970739 (W.D.Ky. June 30, 2015) ........................................................................................ 35 Rybaczewski v. Kingsley, No. L-97-1048, 1998 WL 200227 (Oh. App. Apr. 24, 1998) ................................................................................................. 38 Santos v. Nicolos, 879 N.Y.S.2d 701 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2009) ..................................... 38 Shires v. King, No. 2:05-CV-84,